Public Administration Under Pressure: A Systematic Literature Review

Democratic backsliding puts significant pressure on democracies and has been widely studied in political science due to its important consequences for the political system and citizens. However, not in all countries is this phenomenon widespread. We argue that pressure on public administration is a broader concept that goes beyond democratic backsliding and needs to be studied from a multifaceted perspective. Therefore, this article proposes a systematic literature review on how three facets of pressure – political, mediatic, and public – impact bureaucracy daily. Following the PRISMA protocol, the systematic literature review comprehensively explores not only different forms of pressure but also the strategies employed by public administration actors, as well as the implications for the performance of the public sector. Our contribution is twofold. First, we advance the literature by classifying the different types of pressures, reactions, and consequences for administrative performance that scholars have examined so far. The resulting model serves as a conceptual foundation for studying how pressure is exerted on public administrations and the effects on their functioning. Second, we identify which kinds of pressure, reactions, and performance implications have received comparatively more attention, and which aspects remain underexplored. This points out avenues for future research that promise a more comprehensive understanding of public administration under pressure.